Potty Training is an important milestone in the life of a toddler and in the lives of parents. But often times, it can be difficult to know how and where to start.

In episode 94, potty training expert Jenny Phelps from Oh Crap! Potty training talked with us about how to get started on potty training, potty training resistance and much more!

But there’s more than one method for potty training. Here’s just a small sample of what we found!

1) Oh Crap! Potty Training- This method encourages people to allow children at least 3 days of naked time in order to get them used to their bodily functions and it discourages the use of training diapers like Pull-Ups. However, it also means a parent or caregiver needs to clear their schedule and watch very closely to prevent accidents.

According to Lucy’s List, a researcher reported a 74% success rate for kids under 25 months and a 93% success rate for kids over 25 months. Eight weeks after training, kids averaged less than one accident per day (Butler, 1976).

Read about a mom’s first hand experience with this method on Mom.Me. Read more about this method here.

2) The Child Oriented Approach- This method takes more time and simply stated you let your child tell you when they are ready and you don’t eliminate diapers from one day to the next. It is based on a book by Dr. T. Berry Brazelton. He encourages that you wait until children show signs of readiness to start toilet training, and believes that parents should stop training if children are showing signs of resistance. You can read more about this method in his book. Lucy’s List states that a con of this method is that it can take a long time to train your child.

3) Potty Training in 24 Hours- This method uses a doll to help children learn about the how’s and why’s of going in the potty. While the training is one day, the prep time begins days and weeks before as parents introduce the doll and potty training concepts to children. Read more about it here.

4) Things to Keep in Mind- According to Jenny, you don’t need a lot of fancy gear to get started with potty training. Here are some recommendations that are Super Mamas approved!